N&W in 1910--Advice to the railroad

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
August 18, 1910

WILL EXPLOIT WEALTH OF THIS GREAT SECTION
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 Industrial Department of N. & W. Could Make Unique Exhibit
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MIGHT TELL STORY IN VIEWS AND STATISTICS
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Marvelous Natural Resources of Richest Region Tapped by System Should be Set Forth in Convincing and Bulls-Eye Hitting Style
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SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THOSE PREPARING EXHIBIT
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    The Norfolk and Western industrial department expects to do considerable advertising at the Ohio Valley Exposition, and this being the case a few suggestions as to some things to advertise might not be out of place, inasmuch as it has been announced that F. H. Haume, the agricultural and industrial agent, is anxious to receive maps, pictures and descriptive matter of every locality from one end of the line to the other.
    The miles of excellent railroad sidings along the Norfolk and Western at Graham and Bluefield with a comprehensive map showing the location and number of coal mines in the field which have to be annually supplied with machinery and supplies of various kinds should easily give to visitors to the exposition the advantages to be gained by locating in this city.  A map of this kind has been made by the chamber of commerce committee.
    A number of views of the 2,000 coke ovens in the field together with a lecture on the amount of gas, ammonia, and coal annually wasted in them should prove the advisability of locating by-product ovens in or near this city where this enormous waste could be prevented and coke made here from which point it could be shipped away.
    The enormous deposits of limestone could be easily shown and in conjunction with these views, statistics of the immense quantity of cement used in the construction of various buildings and foundations in the coal field could be exhibited, proving that the market for the entire output of a large plant can be found within a radius of 200 miles of this city.
    The Graham furnace and the Bluestone Valley should by all means be shown and in connection with this views of the Potts Creek iron section together with a comprehensive study on freight rates on limestone, iron, coke and other ingredients used in the manufacture of pig iron, proving there is no region in the country outside of Birmingham where the various ingredients are found so close together for the manufacture of iron and steel and their products.
    The coal mines of the section taken together with the Bluestone should easily prove the value of this point as a cement center while the increasing demand for fuel products should be the greatest incentive towards investment in that line of business here.
    The forests and the many lumber mills should easily prove the value of the waste lumber and by-products which could be easily used in furniture factories which should be established in this region.
    It is generally admitted by the railroad and by the people that a coalfield trolley line would pay and is necessary.  If the industrial department of the Norfolk and Western would show views of the towns along the road in the Pocahontas field and give estimates of the population as well as a study of the life of the coalfield there is a good reason to believe that road could interest capital in a trolley line which could move the enormous population of this section from one point to another without making it necessary for every passenger train to be a jerkwater train.
    The salt fields of Mingo and Wayne counties could be exploited and an opportunity given to the people to see that Kanawha and Mason counties in this state are not the only counties in which large deposits of salt are found.
    The department might show some of the deposits of silica which show a percentage of as high as .23 in pure silica and taken in conjunction with views of the gas wells to be found in Wayne and Mingo counties there is good reason to believe that capital of the country could be interested in the manufacture of glass.
    The enormous deposits of ochre could be exploited with colored views and such views should be of great interest to the paint manufacturers of the country.
    If the industrial department of the Norfolk and Western wants to get real busy, all it has to do is to exploit a few of these resources found along its Pocahontas division while views showing how the people of this section are fed by the express companies would be of interest, especially in view of the fact that there are thousands of acres waiting to be utilized by the truck farmers of the country who are willing to plant something besides wheat and corn.
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Gordon Hamilton
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